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This chapter looks at the Gupta Empire and in particular the career of Samudragupta. Hindu arts and sciences attained a high level of success, the earliest examples of north Indian temples date to this period and elaborate public rituals, including the horse sacrifice, were sponsored by the king. The chapter discusses the works of Kalidasa, in particular Shakuntala, examines temple architecture, and explains the governing rationality that encompassed both the arts and religion.

Chapter Five considers an example of Vedåntadeóika's Sanskrit style by way of his dhyåna‐stotra modelled after the Tamil poem of the Untouchable saint‐poet Tiruppåïåôvår. It focuses on a particular type of poetic writing in Tamil and in Sanskrit, the pådådikeóa anubhava or “limb‐by‐limb” “enjoyment” of the body of God, with related examples from Kålidåsa, the gadyas of Råmånuja and Tantra texts. This focus on the anubhava reveals another facet of Deóika's devotional poetics, from the Sanskrit side, and shows more concretely how his poetic voice compares with that of an Çôvår. The anubhava also reveals the cultic context of so many of Vedåntadeóika's poems: here you have a supreme example of the temple icon viewed devotionally as the living “body of god,” and the successive descriptive form of the poem as a kind of “icon of an icon.” Along with an analysis of these poems, exploration of the themes of bhakti as kåma (desire, passion) and the erotics of “double‐entendre” (óleóålaõkåra), the chapter takes a close look at some commentarial texts, both on Vedåntadeóika and by Vedåntadeóika himself on Tiruppåï's poem.

This chapter discusses the Hindu trinity. As early as Gupta times, a holy trinity of Hinduism, the Trimūrti or triple form, was evolved. This consisted of Brahmā the creator, Vishnu the preserver, and Śiva the destroyer. The doctrine of the Trimūrti was occasionally popular in some circles, and is proclaimed in the fine hymn of Kālidāsa. According to S. Radhakrishnan: ‘The three, Brahmā, Vishnu, and Śiva, are not to be conceived as independent persons; they are the threefold manifestations of the one Supreme’.

In the year 2012, a generation ago in digital technology, the person who generated the most internet searches in India was not a cricketer or a Bollywood star. Nor was it a politician or a religious figure. None of them were close. The person most Indians were curious about that year—as measured by the total number of Google searches—was Canadian-Indian Karenjit Kaur Vohra, a.k.a. Sunny Leone, a former porn star and Penthouse Pet of the Year. It wasn’t the case only in 2012. As hundreds of millions of Indians continued to discover the internet through 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, and even 2017, Sunny Leone remained the most-searched-for person in India. People simply couldn’t get enough. (Prime Minister Narendra Modi made it to number two in 2014, the year he was elected, but Leone remained the clear favorite.) Prudish, conservative, family-values India … and a porn star? Leone was no longer even performing; she had stopped around 2010 and started her own production company with her husband and manager, Daniel Weber. In 2011, she came to India as a guest on the reality TV show Bigg Boss, a local version of the Big Brother franchise. Leone’s appearance was predictably controversial (by design, of course: it was good for the ratings). Although most Indians hadn’t heard of her, it didn’t take long for word to spread: “A porn star—from America—here in India?” At the time, parliamentarian Anurag Thakur complained to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, arguing that Leone’s presence on a nationally telecast program would “have a negative impact on the mindset of children.” Thakur added: “When children see these porn stars on TV and then do a Google search, it shows a vulgar site. It will have a bad impact in the long run.” There were no laws, however, to stop Leone from appearing on TV. While the production of pornography was officially illegal in India, Leone could justifiably argue she was no longer involved in the industry. She was trying to pivot to general entertainment.

This chapter considers Madhusudan’s second Bengali play, Padmābatī nāṭak, especially Act One where the Greek story of the golden apple is, in Madhusudan’s own words, ‘Indianized’. The way in which the play unfolds is influenced by various literary models, for example Shakespearean drama, but above all by Kālidāsa’s Sanskrit play Abhijñānaśakuntalam and the tradition of Sanskrit dramaturgy. There is an implicit comment on the radical differences between the Sanskrit and the Western classical traditions in the play’s resolution when the Indian Paris wins his Trojan war and the audience’s expectation of a tragic ending is thwarted.

Skryabin’s uncompleted final work is examined in its relation to his planned life’s work, the Mystery, according to an account by the composer’s close friend Leonid Sabaneyev. Writing towards the end of Skryabin’s life and just after his death, Sabaneyev dramatizes the scenario involved in Skryabin’s apocalyptic world view. Critical comments from a contemporary on Sabaneyev’s account are included. The concept of a sacred performance, then current, is examined, as well as its influence on Skryabin’s ideas for the performance of the Preliminary Action. A description from Sabaneyev of Skryabin’s playing of some of the music for the Action, which exists now only as fragmentary sketches, concludes the chapter. (107)

Early Buddhist kāvya contrasts the hassled life of a householder with the peaceful life of a forest hermit: the former is devoid of tranquility and therefore militates against striving for liberation from saṃsāra. Those householders, however, who lead an exemplary life can make at least the first steps on the road leading to mokṣa. Early Prakrit kāvya brings not so much the householder but the housewife into focus, beside the figure of the wealthy landowner. In Kālidāsa’s works both household life and renunciation have their appointed time and role, exemplified by the model kings of the Solar Dynasty.

This chapter makes a case for the study of the Meghadūta within the study of world literature and literary visions of the environment. It discusses the sensibilities of classical Indian poetry (kāvya) and gives an overview of the history of studies of Indian poetry in the West. The next section summarizes the plot and structure of the Meghadūta, Kālidāsa’s celebrated lyric poem about the imagined journey of a cloud through the landscape of India to deliver a message from the protagonist (Yaksha) to his absent beloved. The “tantric sensibility” of the text is discussed along with the importance of the poem’s vision of the natural world.